
Ex-Obama staffer slams Cuomo campaign video: ‘No charisma'
'This is one of the least compelling campaign videos that I have ever seen. No message. No charisma. No compelling visuals,' Pfeiffer said in an X post in response to a campaign video from Cuomo.
'Just a visibly annoyed man wearing an ill-fitting shirt saying things he clearly doesn't believe,' he added.
Cuomo has formally announced he is running as an independent in the Big Apple's mayoral race this fall, following a primary loss to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
'Only 13 percent of New Yorkers voted in the June primary. The general election is in November, and I am in it to win it. My opponent, Mr. Mamdani, offers slick slogans, but no real solutions,' Cuomo said in the campaign video Pfeiffer criticized, which was posted Monday on X.
'We need a city with lower rent, safer streets, where buying your first home is once again possible, where childcare won't bankrupt you. That's the New York City we know,' he added.
When reached for comment about Pfeiffer's comments, Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told The Hill that 'If we upset the pod guys, we must be on the right track.'
Pfeiffer previously took a swing at Cuomo prior to the Democratic primary, when he said it was 'insane' to think the former governor was better than a democratic socialist in the New York City mayoral race.
During a previous episode of 'Pod Save America,' Pfeiffer said support for Cuomo from the Democratic Party establishment 'is really unforgivable.'
'Like this isn't — you're not doing it for another good Democrat,' Pfeiffer continued. 'You're doing it for someone that the entire Democratic Party leadership, including the president of the United States at the time, wanted to resign from the governorship because he sexually harassed 11 women, he abused his power, involved in this nursing home scandal, and everyone's getting behind that?'
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Fox News
12 minutes ago
- Fox News
Beto O'Rourke drops f-bomb as he urges Dems to 'meet fire with fire' against GOP redistricting plans in Texas
NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! As Texas Republicans attempt to redraw their congressional districts to widen their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of competitive midterm elections expected in 2026, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas, said Democrats should "meet fire with fire." The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate told former Biden advisor Neera Tanden at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Tuesday that he supports California Gov. Gavin Newsom's own attempt at redistricting the blue state to deepen Democrats' own congressional control. O'Rourke rationalized California's redistricting because "we already have an authoritarian president." And while he acknowledged the irony of his party following suit on something Democrats "don't like Republicans doing," O'Rourke said, "This is for the very future and fate of the republic. We lose it, you will never, ever get it back." "Not only do I think [Newsom] should do this, I don't think he should wait for Texas," O'Rourke said. "In other words, why the f--k are we responding and reacting to the other side instead of taking the offense on these things?" COURT SHUTS DOWN REDISTRICTING FIGHT IN KEY SWING STATE — HERE'S WHAT IT MEANS O'Rourke criticized the Democratic Party for caring "more about being right" than about "being in power." He said Democrats, who are grappling with losing control of the White House and Congress in 2024, "have to be ruthlessly focused on winning power." DEMOCRAT BETO O'ROURKE SAYS HE'LL RUN FOR SENATE IF TEXANS WANT HIM TO If Democrats don't fight back, O'Rourke said, "a state that was already something less than democracy is about to descend even further." The GOP-controlled state legislature in Texas began a special session on Monday, and one of the key items on their agenda is the push by Republicans in the red state to redraw the current congressional maps to reduce the number of districts controlled by already marginalized Democrats. It's part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to keep control of the chamber, and cushion losses elsewhere in the country, as the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. And President Donald Trump is aiming to prevent what happened during his first term, when Democrats grabbed a majority in the House in the 2018 midterms. "Texas will be the biggest one," the president told reporters last week, as he predicted the number of GOP-friendly seats that could be added through redistricting in the Lone Star State. "Just a simple redrawing, we pick up five seats." Hours earlier, Trump held a call with Texas' Republican congressional delegation, and sources confirmed to Fox News that the president told the lawmakers that he was aiming to redraw the maps to create five new winnable seats. Democrats control just 12 of the state's 38 congressional districts, with a blue-leaning seat vacant after the death in March of Rep. Sylvester Turner. The idea is to relocate Democratic voters from competitive seats into nearby GOP-leaning districts, and move Republican voters into neighboring districts the Democrats currently control. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both conservative Republicans and Trump allies, said they needed to redistrict because of constitutional concerns raised by the Justice Department over a handful of minority-dominated districts. "Coincidentally or not, each of those seats is held by a Democrat who is either Black or Mexican-American," O'Rourke said Tuesday. "That's what they're doing. It's members of Congress choosing their own voters, literally." Redistricting typically takes place at the start of each decade, based on the latest U.S. Census data. Mid-decade redistricting is uncommon – but not without precedent. Democrats are slamming Trump and Texas Republicans for what they describe as a power grab, and vowing to take legal action to prevent any shift in the current congressional maps, as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said, "Democrats are going to push back aggressively because it's the right thing to do." "Two can play this game," California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on social media last week. The next day, after a meeting, Democrats in California's congressional delegation said they were on board with an ambitious plan to try and gain at least five seats through redistricting. Democrats currently control 43 of the Golden State's 52 congressional districts. But it won't be easy to enact the change, because in California, congressional maps are drawn by an independent commission that is not supposed to let partisanship influence their work. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Newsom this week suggested that the state's Democratic-controlled legislature should move forward with a mid-decade redrawing of the maps, arguing that it might not be forbidden by the 17-year-old ballot initiative that created the independent commission. The governor also proposed quickly holding a special election to repeal the commission ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Both plans are considered long shots, as they would face plenty of legislative, legal and financial hurdles.


USA Today
14 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump pick Alina Habba is out\u00a0as interim US attorney for New Jersey
President Donald Trump's former lawyer Alina Habba was rejected as the state's top federal prosecutor. WASHINGTON – A panel of judges in the U.S. District Court in New Jersey declined to permanently appoint President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Alina Habba, to serve as the state's top federal prosecutor, according to an order from the court. Habba has been serving as New Jersey's interim U.S. attorney since her appointment by Trump in March, but was limited by law to 120 days in office unless the court agreed to keep her in place. The U.S. Senate has not yet acted on her formal nomination to the role, submitted by Trump this month. The court instead appointed the office's No. 2 attorney, Desiree Grace, the order said. More: Trump's team promised transparency on Epstein. Here's what they delivered. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York last week declined to keep Trump's U.S. attorney pick John Sarcone in place after his 120-day term neared expiration. Sarcone managed to stay in the office after the Justice Department found a workaround by naming him as "special attorney to the attorney general," according to The New York Times. Habba's brief tenure as New Jersey's interim U.S. attorney included the filing of multiple legal actions against Democratic elected officials. Her office brought criminal charges against Democratic U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver, as she and other members of Congress and Newark's Democratic mayor, Ras Baraka, tried to visit an immigration detention center. The scene grew chaotic after immigration agents tried to arrest Baraka for trespassing, and McIver's elbows appeared to make brief contact with an immigration officer. Habba's office charged McIver with two counts of assaulting and impeding a law enforcement officer. McIver has pleaded not guilty. Habba's office did not follow Justice Department rules, which require prosecutors to seek permission from the Public Integrity Section before bringing criminal charges against a member of Congress for conduct related to their official duties. Habba's office also charged Baraka, but later dropped the case, prompting a federal magistrate judge to criticize her office for its handling of the matter. Prior to March, Habba had never worked as a prosecutor. She represented Trump in a variety of civil litigation, including a trial in which a jury found Trump liable for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of raping her in the mid-1990s in a department store dressing room. In 2023, a federal judge in Florida sanctioned Trump and Habba and ordered them to pay $1 million for filing a frivolous lawsuit, which alleged that Hillary Clinton and others conspired to damage Trump's reputation in the investigation into Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.


New York Post
14 minutes ago
- New York Post
Zohran Mamdani's digs at Hakeem Jeffries resurface as House Dem leader weighs backing socialist NYC mayoral candidate
Socialist New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani once implied House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was an Islamophobe and likened the highest-ranking black House lawmaker in US history to notorious segregationist George Wallace. The past digs resurfaced as Jeffries continues to drag his feet on an endorsement after meeting with Mamdani last week for the first time since the Queens state lawmaker locked down the Democratic mayoral nod. The two are expected to have another confab when Mamdani returns from his Uganda vacation at the end of the month. The pro-Palestinian pol has been part of a cadre of lefty firebrands that has long bashed Jeffries over his remarks in steadfast support of Israel from a 2014 rally, comparing it to Wallace's infamous 1963 call for 'segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.' 'After at least 2,251 Palestinians were killed over the course of July 2014, Hakeem Jeffries got on stage at a rally in NYC and paraphrased George Wallace. 'Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever,'' Mamdani fumed in a November 2022 X post. 5 Zohran Mamdani has been working to court top Democratic leaders who have been skittish about throwing their weight behind him. X/zohrankmamdani Jeffries, a Brooklyn-based Democrat, has been a staunch backer of Israel, though since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, he has tried to highlight concerns about the treatment of the Palestinians as well. 5 Hakeem Jeffries has long been a public supporter of Israel, something that has peeved his left flank. Getty Images Mamdani, meanwhile, has been a ferocious critic of the Jewish state — a term he rejects. Several months after comparing Jeffries to Wallace, Mamdani appeared to accuse the party boss of Islamophobia, while opining on a 2000 debate in which the Brooklyn Dem noted the religious differences he had with his rival for a seat in the New York State Assembly. 'Yes, my opponent is older; I'm younger. It's not religion. Yes, the assemblyman is a practicing Muslim, and I grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church,' Jeffries said in the 2000 debate before his then-foe Roger Green stormed off. Mamdani, a practicing Muslim and assembly member from Queens, strongly insinuated Jeffries had been Islamophobic with those remarks. '[Islamophobia] has become less explicit. … You might not hear the word 'Muslim.' You might not hear the word Islam. But you will hear about extremism or ties to specific groups or attempts at making associations that will block any consideration of a candidacy in a voter's mind,' Mamdani reflected to Politico in 2023. Later that same year — just over two months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel — Mamdani publicly roasted Jeffries for not backing a ceasefire, in a clip he proudly shared on social media. 'Congressman Jeffries has yet to call for a ceasefire. Congressman Jeffries has said that he seriously supports President Biden's request for an additional $14 billion in military funding for Israel,' Mamdani chided. 'And I must ask Congressman Jeffries how many more Palestinians must be killed before you call for a ceasefire? How many more?' he added to cheers. 5 Hakeem Jeffries has made clear he'd rather focus on attacking President Trump than intraparty battles. Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock Mamdani has long fixated on the Israel-Hamas war. In October 2023, just about a week after Hamas' surprise attack sparked the conflict, Mamdani was arrested during a protest near then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's Park Slope home. Like Jeffries, Schumer has so far refrained from endorsing Mamdani in the mayoral race. 5 Some Democrats quietly feared that Zohran Mamdani could give Republicans ammunition in the 2026 midterms. Derek French/SOPA Images/Shutterstock Since Mamdani's shock primary win in June, Jeffries has engaged in a delicate dance of not backing the young socialist, but refraining from criticizing him publicly as well. Last month, Jeffries gently called on Mamdani to clarify his defense of the phrase 'globalize the intifada' — widely seen as a call for violent uprisings against Israel — which the socialist chalked it up to a 'desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.' But as he campaigns for the November general election, Mamdani has since said he would 'discourage' the use of the phrase, and stressed that he hadn't been using it. Some progressive hardliners, emboldened by Mamdani's primary victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have mused about targeting other so-called 'establishment' Democrats like Jeffries. Jeffries' allies, though, have warned Democratic socialists in New York City against messing with him. 'Leader Hakeem Jeffries is focused on taking back the House from the MAGA extremists who just ripped health care away from millions of Americans,' his senior adviser André Richardson told CNN earlier this month. 'However, if Team Gentrification wants a primary fight, our response will be forceful and unrelenting. We will teach them and all of their incumbents a painful lesson on June 23, 2026.' National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesman Mike Marinella said Jeffries' prospects at re-election didn't look good in light of Mamdani's past critiques of the top House Dem. 'Hakeem is too weird and too weak to even win over the Democrat nominee for his own city. How would anyone expect him to win back the House?' Marinella told The Post. 5 Hakeem Jeffries met with Zohran Mamdani last week and has plans to meet him again after the latter's return from Uganda. Getty Images 'The socialism wing has taken over the Democrat Party because this is their radical platform.' Mamdani announced on Sunday that he will be taking a break from the campaign so that he and his wife can go to Uganda, where he immigrated from when he was a child. Jeffries told reporters Monday that he'll meet with Mamdani when the candidate returns. 'We agreed to reconvene with other members of the [New York] delegation and high-level community leaders in Brooklyn upon his return to the country,' he said. The Post reached out to reps for Mamdani and Jeffries for comment.